Quote:
Originally Posted by Abcdxxxx
No the point beng made was that Arab nations have killed more people then Israel ever has. Jordan alone killed 20,000 Palestinians during a failed coup attempt.
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And I don't disagree with you there, a lot of the Arab states have done what they have done more out of attempts to shift the balance of power between Israel and themselves, then actaully trying to achieve any kind of self determination for Palestinians. But that doesn't change the fact that Israel has done it's fair share of repression against Palestinians, and I feel that while Sabra and Chatila was not actually directly carried out by Israeli forces the whole situation was indicative of Israel's treatment of Palestinians; I merely use it becuase it is the most well known event regarding such things, I suppose the way i used it could be likened to campus pamphlets (that one was to Kevin).
I guess one of the points of contention here is what was the real nature of Israel's involvement in the civil war that led to the massacres. First of all my own feelings on it, was that Israel's ivasions had a couple of reasons behind it, one was it's attempts to destroy the PLO and create a buffer zone in the north against terrorist organizations and the northern Arab states like Syria. And it was also a response to Syria's invasion to make sure they didn't get a foot hold in lebanon which would complicate Israel's attempts to solidify it's power in the region. The aim of the whole thing was to take Southern Lebanon (for above reasons) and support a Maronite, pro-Israel or at the very least a we-won't-try-and-drive-you-into-the-sea government. My own opinion is that Israel's attempt to consolidate it's power in the region was more the driving force then rooting out the PLO, although the two aren't seperate.
Back to specifics, again I reiterate, Israel had been supplying the Maronite militias for 6 years prior to the massacres and in the course of 2 invasions had been directly supporting them for 4 years. And it was essentially under Israeli military control that Gemayel was elected into the presidency. It wasn't just Gemayel's assassination that resulated in the massacres, Israel had already broken the withdrawl agreements, and had pushed up all the way to Beirut in response to the assassination of an Israeli diplomat for the express purpose of rooting out PLO fighters that it claimed were hiding in refugee camps around the area, Israel was already planning on going into those camps they just used Phallanges militas to do it.
I'm not trying to defend the Arab countries governments, you'd have to be pretty ballsey to do that. But to say that Israel's actions are merely out of self defense is bullshit, in the civil war or otherwise; it's this idea that Israel's "retaliations" are justified that I'm arguing against.